Citation Guide: Archival Materials

For archival materials, give as much information as you can so that a reader can track down that specific manuscript or resource from its specific collection and archives.  If a work has no known author, start with the title; if a work has no given title, give it a descriptive title and write it out in plain text (i.e., not in italics or “quotation marks”).  Otherwise, follow normal title formatting conventions (italicize archival books, put article titles “in quotation marks,” etc.).  As different archives notate their collections differently, you have flexibility in how you present the manuscript information; just make sure to stay consistent!

Note, too, that different archives might request that you include specific information in your citation.  The templates below are how we request patrons format materials from the Meadville Lombard Archives:

Footnote

#. Author if known, Title or description of item, Item date, Collection Number, Box #, Folder #, Collection Names, Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL, URL if obtained online.

            #. Black Affairs Council, Publications and Proposals, 1968-1970, Samuel E. Beecher, Jr. Papers, Black Empowerment Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.30773415.

#. Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Public Housing Meeting, July 25, 1958, 5009, Box 4, Folder 1, Eugene Sparrow Papers, Sankofa Collection, Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School.

For the bibliographic entry, if you are citing only one work from a specific collection, you should make a bibliographic entry for that specific work:

Author if known.  Title or description of item. Item date. Collection Number, Box #, Folder #, Collection Names. Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL. URL if obtained online. 

Black Affairs Council. Publications and Proposals. 1968-1970.  Samuel E. Beecher, Jr. Papers, Black Empowerment Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School.  https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.30773415.

Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee for Public Housing Meeting. July 25, 1958. 5009, Box 4, Folder 1.  Eugene Sparrow Papers, Sankofa Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL.

However, if you are citing multiple works from a single collection, then in your bibliography, it is acceptable to just note the collection.  If the collection are the particular papers of an individual, you can put them in the place of the author and put Papers as the title.

Collection Name, Collection Number, Broader collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL

Beecher, Samuel E., Jr.  Papers.  Black Empowerment Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL.

Sparrow, Eugene.  Papers.  5009, Sankofa Collection.  Archives and Special Collections, Meadville Lombard Theological School, Chicago, IL.

Depending on how you format your bibliographic entry for your cited archival material, any shortened footnote must include enough information for the reader to find it in the bibliography.

#. Black Affairs Council, Samuel E. Beecher, Jr. Papers.

#. Minutes of Citizens’ Advisory Committee, Eugene Sparrow Papers.

A bibliographic citation is meant to give the reader all of the information she needs to find and access the source being cited.  When citing digitized archival materials, that means including the web address, otherwise known as the URL or Uniform Resource Locator.  Citing websites can be tricky.  While many works on the internet are freely open to anyone, many others are only available to verified users with a login or users who pay to get access to something behind a paywall.  If you are citing a source that requires a login or is behind a paywall, you MUST use what is variously called a stable URL or permalink. While a stable URL/permalink will not necessarily give every reader access to the article or content, they will at least be directed to a page that shows that the article is indeed there.  If you instead put a non-stable URL, like the URL from the top browser bar, then a reader who types in or click on that link will not be directed to that article.

One specific type of stable URL is a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), a URL which is permanently linked to that object.  Anyone making online content can register their content with the DOI organization.  DOIs all begin https://www.doi.org or https://doi.org

Many article databases note a stable URL or include a tool for finding one.  On JSTOR, a stable URL and DOI can be found on the left side of the page when you click on an article.  On EBSCO Academic Search Complete, there is an option for obtaining a permalink at the bottom of the right-hand column; look for the chain-link icon.   Click on it and the permalink will appear above the article title.